


Echoes In My Mind

by MajorShiraHaru



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Anxiety, Chaptered, Eventual Romance, Eventual Sex, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Kissing, Mild Smut, Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:14:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26171008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MajorShiraHaru/pseuds/MajorShiraHaru
Summary: After order 66 you escape the Empires grips and go on back to your bounty hunting ways, your ship was damaged in a mission gone wrong and you’ve been stranded on a cold icy planet doing whatever jobs you can to fix your ship and finally get out of here. Along the way, you run into some guys with familiar faces, one who reminds you of the man you loved that died years ago at the Citadel
Relationships: CT-21-0408 | Echo / You, CT-21-0408 | Echo/Reader
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	1. Icy Alliance

**Author's Note:**

> Echo x (Female) Reader fic  
> Rating: 18+ Eventual NSFW Smut  
> Warnings: Swearing, violence, mention of canon events,  
> \- TW Warnings for future chapters: Torture, injuries, recovery, nightmares, anxiety, PTSD (rather warn you now before you become invested)  
> This fic is also on my Tumblr and was added to the masterlist there, if you want to be added to a taglist please let me know on Tumblr since I have no idea how Ao3 works yet lol.  
> Y/N = Your name Y/O/N = Your original name (since your character is going under an alias for most of the fic before later on revealing her real name)

-You're collecting your reward for a bounty you just turned in - just then a male Gotarite comes up behind you grabbing your shoulder - you whip around pulling your blaster out of its holster as you use your elbow to push away the hand, now with your blaster pointed directly at his face - "Vegree?!" you shout, lowering your blaster. "I thought you were going to blast my head off, what the kriff were you thinking Y/N?" he spits out angrily both of his offset green beady eyes staring at you. "Man I'm sorry but that's what you get for grabbing me from behind like that, you're lucky I recognized your stench so quickly" you said as smugly as you could manage. 

"Whaaat didd youu jusst saayy?!" Oh great you thought, you know shits about to go down when he starts stuttering like that. "I'm just teasing you old man, stop getting your teeth in a twist, you might bite your tongue off" you said trying to cool the tension rising.  
"Wellll listten heere Y/N, iff yoouuu ssso mucch aas pooinnt thhatt tthiingg att mme aggainn wwe'rre gonnnaa hhavve mooree prrobblemmms!" he shouts, clearly not taking your jokes well. "More problems than we already have, haha, I find that hard to believe, well anyway what did you want?" hoping that changing the subject might make his mood better. He lets out a big snort as he swallows his anger with you to finally move on to his point for being there, "I got a mission for ya, pays well, might get ya out of this dump." 

"Well, what is it, who's asking, how much, who I gotta kill, or capture, anything to get out of here with my sanity.", "Can't tell ya who from, it'll pay ya enough to fix your ship, but no killing, it's purely a spy mission" he says looking around for anyone listening. "A spy mission, urgh, fine, who or what is my target and what do I need to get" you scoff out, you've always hated spy missions because they usually involved you getting found at some point, the last spy mission ended with you running to your ship under heavy fire, that mission was also the reason you were stuck on this godforsaken trash pile of a planet.  
"Stop complaining, ya want in or not" he asks pulling out a datapad, "Fine" you growl reaching out for the datapad. He waits for a moment before handing it to you, "Ya will find all ya need on that, just make sure to deliver what they want by the deadline, I ain't the middle man on this one so ya better not get snippy with da wrong people" he says in an almost worried way as he gets up and walks off into the crowd of people in the cantina. 

What's that supposed to mean you think to yourself, he's never been so worried or secretive about a mission before. You turn on the datapad looking over the words and images on the screen, seems easy enough, you'll just have to steal another ship to get to the location, which was on a nearby planet, great, good luck finding a decent ship in this place. You would just take a ship and run, but being a bounty hunter that wouldn't help you get any jobs and would probably end with someone putting a bounty on your head, so best to just borrow one for a few hours so you can complete this mission and then fix your own ship.

You get up and walk outside, breaking the datapad in two and discarding it as it instructed, it's cold outside, your face feels like it's already starting to freeze, you head towards the landing pads and the shipyard - it's pretty empty today. Then you spot an all-black ship, it looks strange among the rest, almost like it could be an imperial transport shuttle, but you've never seen one like this, sadly imperial or not it would have to do, there was nothing else nearby and not to mention you wanted out of the cold so bad you'd gladly pick a fight with some imperials right now if it meant getting out of this cold. 

-You hack the control panel on the outside gaining you access to the inside of the ship, where you notice a skull painted on the side and a bunch of posters, eww this ship must belong to some lonely strange guys by the look of this messy place and the different things scattered about.  
You walk to the front of the ship working on hacking the panel so you can fly out of here, this is harder than you thought, normally you were pretty good at this stuff, but someone has heavily modified this ship, no wonder it didn't look familiar, whoever these people were they knew how to modify a ship that's for sure.

-Suddenly you hear people talking, and it's getting closer, oh kriff you think, with your luck, it's probably the people who own this ship, and by the sound of it there are 5 men, you could probably take them as long as you got the jump on them. -You put the cover over the control panel trying to be as quiet as possible as you hear the door to the ship open "kriff" you let slip out as you try to duck into a hiding spot behind part of the wall near the door. 

"So boys now that we've delivered this bounty and finally gotten some grub where do you all want to go?" asks one of the men, he has a distinctive accent, they all start talking, making it hard to tell what they're saying, especially over the sound of the one guy shouting about wanting to beat up some clankers.  
You try to take advantage of their babbling to sneak a peak for how you might get out of this predicament. Well, there's no way out, they're all standing right by the door, and there's no way to sneak by them or - your thoughts are cut off by the sudden realization that the cover you had hastily placed back on slid off the console and crashed hard onto the floor, stopping their bickering.  
"We really need to fix this thing, Tech, Echo, get over there and patch that back up will ya" the one with the accent says, causing you to shake with anxiety, knowing that in any second two of those guys would be walking right by you, should I attack them, or should I try to explain myself, you think quickly unsure of your choices as your anxiety swallows you up, hearing their footsteps coming closer, you close your eyes. 

-You try and dart out from your hiding spot to hopefully catch them off guard giving you enough time to get out and into the snowstorm outside, but instead, you just run right into the guy who was just around the corner crashing to the ground as you land right on top of him with a grunt. "What the heck" you hear the rest around you yell, as the one below you lets out a small grunt before looking up at you, right into your eyes, both of you just kinda stare at each other, unsure of what's going on.  
"Echo" the one to the left of you shouts, grabbing you and pulling you back locking your arms behind you. Did he say Echo? you think, "Let me go" you shout cracking the back of your head into his helmet and kicking him back, freeing yourself, you try to run, but the one called Echo gets up quickly stepping in front of you and grabbing both your wrists as you try to push him away, "I said let go" you yell kicking his leg, "OW!!" you scream out realizing you just kicked your shin into a leg that was metal.  
"Are you okay?" he asks instantly letting go of your wrists, as you bend down to hold your aching shin, you look up to see a worried look on his face, "Why do you care?" you said coldly as you stood up, still in pain, making him frown "I care because you just kick my solid metal leg." he says in a joking way, making you look away, feeling guilty for being such a jerk. "I'm sorry" you say while staring at the floor, "I'm just trying to finish this mission so I can fix my ship and get off this damn planet", "So you were going to steal our ship?" he says raising an eyebrow with a smirk crawling across his face. 

"Just to get to the mission location, I was gonna bring it back" you basically shout, now getting flustered by the way he's looking at you. "Well, where are you headed maybe we can take you." "Wait now hold on there" one with the gray hair and bad attitude says "We aren't seriously going to let this little girl hitch a ride to some bounty on our ship, are we?" he spits out, "HEY, I'm not a little girl, I'm a bounty hunter" you shout at him, causing him to roll his eyes and cross his arms, "I think we are" says the one with the accent grinning at the displeasure these words brought to the face of his comrade,  
"Sorry about that, Crosshair here doesn't trust easily, my name is Hunter, this is Wrecker, over there is Tech and well you've just met Echo" he says pointing out his comrades to you.  
As he does this you notice they all look kinda similar, the one called Echo looks a lot like the clones you use to fight alongside. "You're clones?" you say hesitantly, "Yes" said Echo, "Well actually we've all been altered in some way to enhance specific skills" says Tech in a way that was almost too fast for you to understand. "It's good to meet you, umm..." "Y/N" you blurt out nervously, "Y/N" Hunter says finishing his sentence.  
You notice Echo smiling at you after you just blurted out your name, causing you to slightly blush, trying to look away from him in a way that wasn't obvious.  
"Well Y/N, where are you headed?" asks Echo. “I'm headed to Luminues, the planet not too far from here, it's just a simple mission to get some information from a warehouse for someone."

"Hmm, for a mission that sounds so simple I'm surprised they'd pay enough to fix your ship, who's asking for this information?" Hunter asks looking concerned,  
"I know, they didn't give me much information on the job and I don't know who they are, but I promise it will just be a simple in and out and then I'll be out of your hair" you say trying to sound convincing. "LET'S GO THEN" shouts Wrecker, "All right" says Hunter sternly, "But we can't help you and if our ship gets damaged we'll need some of that bounty in return", "No problem, I'd be happy to share whatever I have left after I repair my ship" you say thankful that they are willing to even take you in the first place.

They all take their spots, standing or sitting around as Tech starts the ship and sets it on a course to Luminues, you awkwardly stand near the wall staring out into space until you notice Echo walking up to you.  
"Umm...so you know clones?" he says unsure of how to phrase his question, "Yeah, I use to...." you cut yourself off, remembering that despite not being a Jedi you were still labeled as an enemy of the Empire and you didn't want to give yourself away, "umm, I um I...I worked on ships for the Republic" you said pretty unconvincingly, Echo looks at you tilting his head and raising a brow, he seems to understand that you can't say exactly who you are and accepts your lame answer, "Well then Y/N, I guess if you mostly worked on ships we probably never met, I was on the front lines a lot, fighting with the...” - suddenly he gets cut off by Crosshair who hits him in the shoulder, "She doesn't care Echo and remember we're trying to stay low key" he says jabbing him with his elbow,  
"Eh, sorry" Echo says with a sad look on his face as he turns away to walk towards Tech. 

"We'll be landing shortly" Tech says while pressing a bunch of buttons, "You might want to hold on to something" Crosshair teases, making you let out a snort as you walk closer to the front of the ship, at that moment the ship makes a hard turn before it jumps back to just barely make a landing on the small landing pad causing you to grab onto Echo to stay on your feet, he grabs your waist trying to steady you before looking up at you, both of you blush before letting go of each other. - Tech opens the door leading outside.  
"Okay, we got you here, Echo can give you our com channel so you can contact us when you need a pickup, otherwise we'll be here waiting" Hunter says walking toward the open door, Echo softly grabs your arm typing their com channel into your comlink, "Thank you" you say quietly smiling at Echo, causing him to let go of your arm and look away, "Uh, no problem" he says quietly in return.  
-You walk out the door as they wish you good luck, let's get this over with you think to yourself finally setting off for your bounty.


	2. Listen for the Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After trying to steal a ship to get yourself to a planet for a new bounty mission you accidentally get found by the ship owners, after debating what to do with you, they decided to help you by taking you to the planet in exchange for some of the reward. You are investigating the abandoned facility before being captured by a mysterious person from your past who subjects you to torture...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Echo x (Female) Reader fic  
> Rating: 18+ Eventual NSFW Smut  
> -Content warnings: Swearing, Anxiety, Violence, Canon Events  
> -TW's for this chapter: Torture, Injection, Captured  
> -Warnings for future chapters: Recovery, nightmares, PTSD
> 
> I tried to keep this more on the mild side,  
> but still, keep these trigger warnings in mind and  
> PLEASE DON'T READ IF YOU CAN GET TRIGGERED BY THESE THINGS
> 
> This fic is also on my Tumblr you can find it linked in the masterlist,  
> if you want to be added to a taglist please let me know on Tumblr.  
> Y/N = Your name Y/O/N = Your original name   
> (since your character is going under an alias for most of the fic before later on revealing her real name)
> 
> \----------------------------------------------------------------------

-You're sneaking into the building where the information you need is held, there was no one around and it was oddly quiet. - You continue through this strange place following the hallways as instructed until you reach a door, opening it reveals a small empty room - you look around, "I thought they said there'd be a control panel here, but there's nothing, in fact, this whole place is full of nothing" you mumble to yourself. 

"Not completely empty" says a voice echoing through the empty room, causing you to twist around pulling out your blasters, nervously looking for who said it, turning the night vision mode on your helmet to reveal nothing!?  
"In fact, I found just what I was looking for" you hear the echoing voice say, hearing a sound behind you, you spin around, but you're too slow, everything suddenly goes dark.

-You wake up head throbbing, "OW, WHAT THE-?!" you scream noticing both your hands and feet have been chained into the nearby walls,  
"Who are you and what do you want?!" you almost cry out, holding back fearful tears  
"You" says the voice stepping slowly out of the shadows, to reveal a scummy looking pirate  
"And what do you want with me?" you ask, afraid to know the answer.

"Well you see, I think your this force user bounty hunter that used to belong to the Republic, and well you and your little army took my cargo after you discovered me and my crew on a planet you were invading, just call this getting even for that" he says with a disgusting smirk on his face. 

"You got the wrong gal, I'm no Jedi"  
"Oh no, I have the right person, I know you were never a Jedi, just one of the many Republic pawns, discarded and forgotten after the war"  
"So what's it going to be?" you say coldly.

"When you tore through my camp I witnessed your strength, how you used the force to move the earth to your will, used the air to force us around, I want to take that power from you, no one deserves such strength, no skill, no will, nothing but undeserved abilities. I will make you suffer the way you made us suffer!"  
"Well, I've got a deadline for a bounty I need to finish, so if you'll be quick about this." you say sarcastically. 

-He motions his hand as two droids stepped out, each holding two bottles, there was some kind of liquid looking metal inside the bottles, you'd never seen anything like it.  
"What is that?!" you say as they continue to approach you loading the bottles into auto-injectors.  
"NO, GET AWAY FROM ME!" you scream out, trying to use the force to break your restraints, but instead it causes you to get shocked so hard you almost fall unconscious again.  
-Only one injects you with the strange stuff, the other standing to the side as if awaiting its turn - it burns as it moves through your body, causing you to scream, hoping someone might hear you. 

The droid who injected you grabs something from its waist, placing some kind of medical device on one of you're arms - you feel a small poke, you almost missed it through the overwhelming pain your body was in.  
"Injection completed, the subjects Midi-chlorian count is dropping as predicted" the droid says looking over to its master.  
"WHAT, what do you mean, what are you doing....you...you won't get away with this" you cry.  
"Oh, but we will, don't worry, now that I've had the pleasure of taking your power I no longer require you"  
"You're insane you can't take away the force!!" 

"Finish it" he says coldly to the other droid - it approaches you slowly almost on purpose, finally reaching your arm and injecting the substance into you - you scream out in pain again, tears escape your eyes,  
"You, won't....you can't...." you start to lose concessions as they walk away from you, all you hear is his laugh echoing through the dark room as your eyes are forced shut.

-You wake up, alone, still chained up, but at least they're gone. Scanning the room with your eyes looking for your comlink, nothing, but maybe you can get the one you hide in your boot out, looking down at your boots you try using the force to lift it out,  
making sure not to set off the shocker on your cuffs, but even after a lot of concentrating you're still unable to summon the force.  
"What...impossible, this isn't possible" you weep - no, NO, snap out of it Y/N you think, the force isn't my only skill, but this pain, this dizziness, can I get out and if so how. You panic thinking of ways to escape before you succumb to the effects of the poison  
in your body.

Wrapping the slightly loose chains around your hands, pulling one of your legs up with all your strength breaking the ground where there the chain was attached, the backlash of the chain whipping past your face before coming back down to crash on the ground.  
You hear the man's voice echo from somewhere further away in the building as footsteps startup. 

SHIT!  
You quickly lift your leg up, luckily you were flexible enough to reach the boot up to your mouth - undoing the clasp that hid a small communicator, pulling it out, and placing it on your leg, great now what, I can't break an arm free without dropping it or crashing myself into a nearby wall, instead you decide to use your tongue, mapping out the buttons you needed to press before moving in to push them, careful not to accidentally drop the device.

Luckily you remembered the combination of buttons Echo had entered into your comlink earlier - the com connects  
"ECHO??? Echo help me please, this mission was a setup, I've been captured, I need your help...I can't...I won't..make it much longer... please...please" you say failing to hold back your tears letting them roll down your face as the footsteps get closer.  
"Y/N? what!? I'm having Tech trace your location, we're coming to get you, just hang--" you miss the rest of his words as everything starts to go black again, the metal, it's too poisonous, your body can't keep it at bay any longer you think to yourself before passing out.

|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

-"Y/N, Y/N can you hear me.....please wake up." you can barely make out the voice talking to you - your eyes start to flutter open, he's holding your cheek in his hand, it's so warm and soft, comforting you as your eyes start to focus on his  
"Urgh, Echo?" you mumble out  
"Yeah, yea it's me... how do you feel?" he says sweetly as his thumb rubs light circles on your cheek  
"Uh...been better... but I've also been worse" you say jokingly, trying to sit yourself up. 

He moves his hand down to cup your waist, helping you up into a sitting position  
"Thank you Echo" you say quietly, causing a light blush to fall over his slightly pale tan skin  
"You shouldn't get up just yet" he said with a worried look, you leaned closer to him causing the blush in his face to intensify, you notice he's nervous, his eyes try darting away from your stare, you lean over kissing him lightly on the cheek causing him to stumble back slightly with embarrassment, removing the hand he had around your waist to keep himself from falling backward by grabbing the side of the bed. 

"How long was I out for?"  
"2 weeks, we did the best we could for you, even between bounties."  
"2 WEEKS?!!?" you shout, startling him, "What happened, why was I out so long, the last thing I remember was that they injected me with something, the pain was so bad I kept passing out and then I called you guys for help before I black out again, and I....I...." the lump in your throat stops you from talking anymore as tears run down your face, unable to stop yourself from crying. 

Echo moves sitting on the bed before wrapping you in a tight hug, letting you cry into his chest.  
"It's okay Y/N you're safe now - you're safe... with me" he said softly rubbing his hand on your back trying to soothe you. 

Something about this feeling felt familiar, you couldn't think of or remember why. Maybe it was because his name was the same as the clone from the 501st you loved, but you'd met Clones before that had the same names as other Clones in the army, with so many of them it wouldn't be uncommon for some to share the same names, but somehow, deep down this felt different, no, no, Echo died, you saw with your own eyes that day, the shuttle exploded taking him with it, you could never forget that moment.  
The poison must be playing tricks with my mind, you know Echo died, there was never evidence of his survival, you Rex and Fives searched, but eventually, you all had to accept reality and move on with the war. If there was any hint of Echo being alive they would have told you, Anakin and Rex knew how much Echo meant to you...  
Remembering them makes you sad, it was said Anakin perished and you were never able to find out what happened to Rex if maybe he died, if he turned on Anakin, or if he's alive and working with the Empire. 

During that fateful day you had ended up on a remote planet in the outer rim with a few Clones after your supply ship was shot down by Separatists, shortly after the Clones turned on you, you refused to kill them and instead you restrained them, leaving them with the ship, setting off on your own before eventually escaping the planet.  
You were able to meet up with an old bounty hunter friend who owed you a favor, with their help you were able to fake your death earning them a good reward from the Empire, you changed your appearance, the way you spoke, everything you could so you'd never be found, you tried to forget the past, but you could never forget the guilt...

The guilt of losing the people you cared about, about losing the man you loved, the guilt of never telling him how you felt, you never got to find out if he felt the same way, what if he did?  
Maybe this was the forces way of mending this?  
Giving you a second chance... 

\- At some point between these random thoughts, you fell asleep in the arms of Echo, still holding you tightly against his chest, thinking of nothing but you.

Chapter 3 will be out next week, ty for reading, hope you enjoyed!  
\---------------------------------------------------------  
Slight spoilers;  
For those concerned about the subject of someone losing the force, don't worry, the "losing the force" issue will be addressed in a future chapter :)


	3. Comfort in Sadness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the Bad Batch rescued you, Echo helps you recover and takes care of you in any way he can, making your affection for one another blossom in silence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: This is a longer chapter, but since it's a lot of talking I thought I'd leave it all in the same chapter, a lot of angst, fluff, and comfort.  
> Echo x (Female) Reader fic  
> Rating: 18+ Eventual NSFW Smut  
> \- Content Warnings: Self Doubt, Crying, Anxiety, Depression  
> -TW's for this Chapter: PTSD, Nightmares, Trauma  
> Torture; only references from the previous chapter  
> \--If there are any warning labels I’m missing please inform me.
> 
> This fic is also on my Tumblr you can find it linked in the masterlist,  
> if you want to be added to a taglist please let me know on Tumblr.  
> Y/N = Your name Y/O/N = Your original name  
> (since your character is going under an alias for most of the fic before later on revealing her real name)

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sometime later after you both had fallen asleep - \- There's a noise that wakes you from your sleep, blinking your eyes into focus as you turn your head you see Echo, slouched against the sleeper with one arm up to hold your hand.  
It's hard to remember what happened, the last thing you remember was crying into Echos chest as he comforted you, you had felt so tired, the feeling of his warmth must have caused you to fall asleep not soon after.

You notice his head resting not too far away from your hand.  
Slipping your hand out of his - you move it to stroke his head, running your fingers through his short black hair.

While stroking his head you feel the small metallic nubs on his head, making you wonder what he himself had been through during the war, he must have been tortured too, you noticed his left arm was cybernetic as well as both his legs, what happened to him? You hate to think of who did this, or why they'd do this.

-After a few moments of lost thinking and moving your hand around his head, he starts to move, making sleepy mumbles before yawning.  
Sitting up, fixing his position before getting up to sit on the bed, and as he looks at you with sleepy eyes. 

"Hey Y/N, are you feeling better?" he asked sleepily with a concerned look on his face.  
"Yea... thank you.....and....um...sorry - for crying," you say sitting up in the bed.  
"No no, it's okay, it's good to let things out and not bottle it up," he says moving his gaze down to look down at the ground with sadness in his eyes.

"So what happened, after I contacted you for help?" you asked placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.  
"Tech pinpointed your location and we rushed in to get you, there were two Supervisor droids in the room with you that we blasted, our scanners picked up another person near you, but they got away through a hidden door, we thought it was more important to save you than get them though."

"Well, I appreciate that, but don't worry he's not very important anyway, just some pirate who's base I destroyed a long time ago, seems he still held a grudge after all this time...what about while I was unconscious, you said I was out for weeks?"  
"Hopefully he doesn't track you down again to finish the job...but next time he shows up you can be sure I'll put a blaster bolt through that piece of rakeweed for what he did to you," Echo says getting visibly upset and clenching his fists in the sheets of the bed.

You reach out and place your hand over his clenched one, rubbing it caringly with your thumb, "Echo, it's okay, this isn't my first encounter with torture, believe it or not..."  
His hand slowly unclenches before repositioning to capture your hand, you notice how much smaller yours was in comparison to his - he lightly squeezes your hand, moving his gaze to look at you, making a small smile creep across your face.

"Sorry..." he says moving his gaze back to stare at the floor by his feet - "Uh, to answer your question, you were unconscious for 2 standard weeks, Tech and I used the limited resources we had to keep you stable, luckily the others were able to find some special medical equipment on a planet and after that, your condition finally started to improve. Tech was able to remove the toxic metal from your body so you shouldn't be feeling the effects of that anymore, sadly even with a limited exposure, it caused a lot of damage to the nerves in your body." While he spoke you noticed tears building in his eyes.

"Thank you, you guys didn't even know me but you saved me and took care of me, I'm sorry for causing you so much trouble," you say placing your other hand on his back hoping to make him feel better.

"We couldn't just leave you, I'd never forgive myself, even if I don't know you that well, or at all honestly, I just couldn't... You know there were a few times we almost lost you, but luckily you're stronger than that kriffing metal." he said holding your hand more tightly before moving his other hand to cup the top of yours, now looking into your eyes.

"I'm glad you pulled through, and that you're here... w--" he stops short of finishing his sentence as you move toward him lips parting slightly as your eyes move their focused gaze to his lips, - as your lips approach his there's a knock and the door slides open, making both of you jump and quickly turn away from each other as Hunter enters.

"Knock knock," he says smirking  
"You're supposed to knock before you enter Hunter," Echo says bluntly shooting a glare at Hunter.  
"I did knock"  
"You knocked as you opened the door that doesn't give one much chance to react" 

"Why would you need to react?" he says trying not to smirk more  
"Uhh-" Echo gets flustered trying to find words - you interject to save him -  
-"Because there's a girl staying in here and it's nice to allow her to call you in or not," you say trying to sound as sophisticated as possible, though based on Hunter's baffled expression you could have just spit out a bunch of random words.

"Right, sorry," he says scratching his head

"How's she doing Echo?" Tech says as he enters the room  
"Do none of you know how to knock?! ...geez... She's doing better, but we'll have to do a physical to check what she can and can't do right now."

"That's finally some good news, there was a lot of poison in your body, but the latest scans I ran were clear, so I think you should be improving soon, but it'll take some work," Tech says as he reached a datapad over to you - you took it from him looking over the information displayed on the screen, trying to understand what you were looking at.

"Thank you Tech," you said looking back at him with a sad expression.

"If you have any questions just let them know," Hunter said picking up on your anxiety and sadness, "And don't worry we'll have you back to normal soon, Echo can vouch for that," he says playfully hitting Echos shoulder

"He's right, the guys helped me through a lot, we'll help you through this... I promise" Echo says looking at you with a soft and caring expression, making you smile lightly now trying to hide your sadness.

\----------

You failed most of the physical tests they gave you to gauge how much work you needed to do. You couldn't even use utensils to eat because your dominant hand was still so numb and your whole body was still really weak.  
All you wanted was for your body to cooperate so you could finally eat something, ever since you woke up you were starving, but they wouldn't let you eat until the physical was finished. 

\----------

-You couldn't even get your hand to hold the spoon, let alone get it to the bowl to scoop some soup, Echo was sitting next to you watching you struggle and get more upset, feeling bad for you he grabbed the spoon and puts his other hand over yours to comfort you.

"Here let me get that," he said taking the spoon from you and scooping up some of the soup, lifting the spoon to your mouth.  
"Uh Echo, it's ok I need to keep trying till I can do it myself"

"No you don't, you're just making yourself upset and that's not going to help you, besides you need to eat something to help get back your strength and the soups getting cold."  
"Fine," you say looking at him shyly before opening your mouth taking the spoon in - you could have sworn you heard Crosshair’s eyes roll as he walked in on the both of you.

"Just here for some Caf, don't mind me," he said walking past Echo who was giving him a death stare, causing you to giggle in amusement before taking the next spoon full of soup into your mouth.

Crosshair poured himself some Caf and turned to finally leave, "You kids have fun now and don't make a mess," he said smiling to himself as Echo scoffed - Echo continues to raise spoon full after spoon full of soup to your mouth until it's finally all gone.

"I should take you back to your room, you've had a long day and need some rest," he said putting away the dirty dishes before stepping behind you grabbing the handles of the power chair.

"Wait, I want to try and walk back"  
“Y/N you can't, you just woke up from a coma, and during the physical, you couldn't even stand on your own"

"Echo...please," you said with a sad expression on your face  
"Okay, but I'm doing the heavy lifting got it?"  
"Got it," you say smiling at him

He helps lift you out of the power chair, wrapping an arm around your waist and using his other arm to support you, you wrap an arm around his shoulders and neck trying to balance yourself as you try to walk back to your room.  
He's strong enough to take all your weight, but still lets you try and walk, you're not able too, you're just able to slightly move your legs, almost pretending you could walk as he does all the work for you.

-You get to the new room, it's a nice change from the tiny medbay you were in before, though this room is not very big either, there are two sleepers stacked one above the other in the one corner by the door, and on the other side is the refresher blocked off by some walls and a door. - He sets you down on your sleeper making sure not to hit your head on the one above, he moves to undo some locks and folds the top sleeper against the wall, giving you some actual headroom.

"Thank you Echo....you were right I couldn't walk, but I appreciate you letting me pretend," you say smiling at him as he kneels down to start on helping you with some basic leg exercises - after finishing the exercises and massaging your legs some to relax them he gets up and brings over a box with your belongings in it.

They must have gone back for your stuff you think as you picked through some of your belongings, picking out a change of clothes.  
You'd basically been wearing the same thing for the past few weeks because they were too afraid to change your outfit while you were unconscious,  
man, you really wanted to use the refresher, but you were still too weak to use it yourself and there was no way you'd ask any of the guys to help you with that, at least not yet.

Echo notices you just staring at the clothes in front of you, unaware that your thoughts have wandered off elsewhere.  
"Do you need help?" he asks  
"Um....yeah.... would you mind helping me change into some fresh clothes?"  
"Oh, uh" he mumbles out, looking more flustered by the second

"If you don't feel comfortable I can always wait until I can move my arms more," you said trying to calm him down  
"No, uh..... it's...I just..don't want to make you uncomfortable"  
"It's okay with me Echo - I trust you"  
"I promise I won't look," he said with a kind smile.

"Well you kinda have to look to be able to put this stuff on and take off my current clothes," you say jokingly, accidentally causing him to become more flustered.  
"I'll take it as a challenge - uh - to keep my eyes closed," he says trying not to sound nervous.  
"Ok" you let out a small laugh, earning a smile from Echo.

He steps closer to you and moves the pile of clothes you were looking at, putting each piece neatly to the side next to you so he can easily get to them.  
Looking at you nervously, he moves your arms pulling the sleeves so that your arms are pulled out of them, falling between your chest and the inside of your shirt.  
\- Closing his eyes as he grabs the bottom of your shirt and rolls it up, pulling it over your head and off of you - he reaches over finding the shirt he had just laid out, grabbing it and pulling it over your head, making sure to keep his eyes close the whole time.

Opening his eyes he looks at you smiling at him, trying not to laugh, making him smile back shyly before moving your arms to pull them through each sleeve. Looking down at your pants trying to figure out the best way to change them.  
\- He asks you to lean back, you comply leaning back against the wall, closing his eyes again after moving his hands into the proper positions, he undoes your pants, pulling them down and off, he grabs the other pair and slides each leg in, pulling them up to your waist before buttoning them.

"See told ya I could do it," he says smugly opening his eyes to look at you  
"Thank you," you say noticing the tiredness creeping up on you more.

"You should sleep now, I'll be in the other room with the rest of the boys, if you need anything, just buzz me or anyone on the com and I'll be here in flash," he says as he helps you lay down, covering you up with one of your blankets before placing your comlink next to your hand.

He puts away the old clothes and the box of your stuff before heading towards the door.

"Echo?" you say as he starts to walk outside the door  
"Yes Y/N?" he asks, stepping back inside

"Can you....um....can you....uh....stay with me?" you ask in a shaky voice, afraid of being alone.

"If it'll help you sleep, yea," he says walking back to your side before sliding down the edge, sitting on the ground leaning his head and back against the side of the frame. It looked uncomfortable, but somehow he looked comfortable.

"Thank you...Echo..." you mumble through your sleepiness, you drop your arm down to his shoulder causing him to turn and look up at you, he smiled softly before taking his hand and placing it over yours holding it as you started to fall asleep finally being swallowed up by your tiredness

\---------------------------------------------------

Everything's dark, you hear a voice talking to some robots, as you start to open your eyes and try to move you notice the chains on your arms and legs, "NO!" you scream how...how can you be back here, were you dreaming, was your mind only comforting you, or were you dreaming now, having a nightmare of what happened. They start to approach you, they're covered in the shadows of the darkness, "STOP, STAY AWAY" you scream trying to break free as tears flow down your face and sweat dripped from your body.

"STOP, PLEASE DON'T, PLEASE......ECHO.....HELP ME...HELP ME...SOMEONE HELP!" you yell as the shadowy figure reaches towards you grabbing you -- you open your eyes jolting awake screaming.  
You hear a sound next to you and use the little strength you have to punch - hitting something.

"Hey careful" you hear Echo say as you feel his fingers wrap around your clenched fist that was pushed into the palm of his hand.  
"Echo...Echo....I'm.....sorry...I thought youu...weerrre -" you start sobbing and shaking.  
Echo reaches around his arm to help sit you up, moving onto the bed to support you with his side as he carefully pulls your clenched fist open holding your hand in his.  
You squeeze his hand leaning into him, resting your head in the crook of his neck, trying to breathe through your sobbing.

"It's okay, I'm here, they can't hurt you," he says lightly kissing your head making it hard not to fall back asleep.  
"Echo..." you sniffle "I don't...I don't want to go back..."  
"Y/N"  
"I don't want to be alone"  
"You're not alone, I'll be right here with you," he said leaning both of you back onto the bed holding you in his arms, - you roll slightly, placing your hand on his chest, snuggling up to him, drifting back to sleep as he pulls the blanket over you.

|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|

Learning how to walk again was one of the more difficult challenges of recovery, besides the almost nightly nightmares, luckily Echo was kind enough to always stay with you and be there when you woke, afraid and shaking, holding you until you fell back asleep. You spent weeks trying to just take more than a single step, Echo was more than happy to provide help again, knowing a little about that strange feeling when you can walk again for the first time in a while, catching you any time you fell, and comforting you as you cried out of frustration.

\--You've forgotten how many times you've tried to just walk, the boys were kind enough to set up some bars for you to hold as you tried to take some steps, your upper body strength was still weak so you couldn't really hold yourself up for very long.

As you try to take more than a few steps your arms and legs both gave out, causing you to crash to the ground, despite Echos' best effort to catch you.

"Echo I can't... I just can't....it's not working.... my legs...they aren't working...aannd.... I...I..cann't evvenn use myy...strenggthh to holdd mme upp..." you said sobbing harder and harder, unable to speak properly as your throat shook with pain and frustration.

Echo pulled you into his lap almost cradling you, he was trying his best to wipe away your stream tears with his hand  
"Shhh, it's okay - you'll get there, don't be so hard on yourself Y/N - you're strong I know you can do this" he softly whispers as he pulls your body up to rest against his - you bury your head in his chest, just like you did every time you cried.  
He hugged you tightly as he lightly rocked you, trying to ease your pain.

\--You forget how long you both stayed like that, eventually getting up to try again, hoping to just get a little further.

"You got this Y/N and I promise I won't let you fall this time"  
"Promise?" you teased him, steadying yourself on the bars as you focused on him standing at the other end, preparing to move in case you fell again.  
"Promise, now just take it slow and focus on me"  
"That isn't the hard part," you said, giggling at your own joke, making him smirk at you and shake his head.

You focus on him, slowly taking more and more steps, you're actually starting to get close to him, you don't notice him backing up until there's suddenly no bars between your fingers, startling yourself, you instinctively reach out for him grabbing around his shoulders as he catches you, holding you by the waist and pulling you closer to him to keep you from falling. You feel your face heat up as you look into is eyes.

"Told you you could do this," he says smiling at you.  
Your legs grow weak and shaky not use to having your weight on them, before they can give out Echo scoops you up in his arms and carries you back over to your sleeper, gently putting you down on it.

"Thanks," you said looking at him as he stepped back  
"No problem, I did promise not to let you fall. I'm going to grab some grub for you and me, we've been at this for a few hours and you need something to get your strength back up" he said before walking out the door.

You were exhausted, pulling your legs onto the bed as you laid back letting your head hit the pillow. Before Echo had the chance to even get back to the room you had already fallen asleep, too tired to even think about the food he was bringing.

"Y/N the boys wanted me to tell you that --" he stops realizing you're asleep. - He walks over to the small side table and sets down the bowls of food before walking over to you, tucking you in, leaning down to you he whispered "--they're proud of you.....I'm proud of you, good night Y/N, I'll be right here", kissing your forehead and brushing your cheek with his hand.

\---------------------------  
Thank you for reading chapter 4 will be out next week


	4. Familiar Faces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After mostly recovering from your injuries you go to Tech to hopefully have some questions answered, - later on the Bad Batch asks for your help with a bounty mission which you accept, leading you to an Imperial outpost where you meet a person from your past...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Echo x (Female) Reader fic  
> Rating: 18+ Eventual NSFW Smut  
> \- Content Warnings: Self Doubt, Anxiety, Depression  
> -TW's for this Chapter: PTSD, Nightmares, Trauma, Torture; only references from the previous chapter nothing new  
> \--If there are any warning labels I’m missing please inform me.
> 
> Y/N = Your name Y/O/N = Your original name  
> (since your character is going under an alias for most of the fic before later on revealing her real name)
> 
> This fic is also on my Tumblr you can find it linked in the masterlist,  
> if you want to be added to a taglist please let me know on Tumblr.

\--------------------------

They were right, after a few weeks and a lot of hard work you were walking again, your legs and arms were still weak at times, but at least you could move around without needing Echo to follow you like a lost puppy dog -- though you do miss having him around, you miss having him curled up at your bedside holding your hand as you fell asleep, you actually kinda miss having him feed you, mostly since it always annoyed Crosshair. 

It was nice having someone care for you, and it was nice to get to know Echo better over this time, though you didn't actually learn too much about who he was since he still didn't tell you anything about his past, and you fearing that if the man who captured you knew who you were, you didn't want to put Echo or the others in any danger by telling them about your past either, in case this guy ever found you guys, you couldn't bear the thought of Echo being hurt by that scum.   
\- Though you really wanted to tell him, tell him everything, most of all, how you felt about him, you didn't want to waste this chance by repeating your mistake, but you can't, for some reason, you just can't bring yourself to tell him, not yet anyway.

\-------------------------

You walk into the small area of the ship that Tech had all his things set up in, hoping to get an answer to a question you had.  
"Hey, Tech, about having questions, um, I have one..." you call out.

"Oh Y/N, sure, how can I help?" he asks, motioning you to come over.

"So, uh, the guy who...tortured me...um..well he used the poison for more than just trying to kill me, he wanted to remove something, and I need to know if it's true, what he said, and if it worked..."   
"Ok, what is it? I can scan your body and blood again to check what you're looking for," he asked curiously, but almost like he knew what you were talking about. 

"Promise me you won't tell anyone about this, not anyone!" you say with a concerned look, worried about having just one person find out you're a force user.  
"Not even Echo" he teases  
"What...uh...no, why would you ask?" you shoot back trying to hide your flustered expression.  
"Oh....no reason....so, what is it?" he says smirking before looking down at his datapad.

"It's um....for...uh....Midi-chlorians."  
"Hm, let me check" - he takes some blood from you and puts it into a slot by his holoscreen pulling up some graphs and numbers you don't understand.  
"So, what does it say?" you question, eagerly awaiting his answer.

"Well, it shows normal levels," he says comparing it to other graphs and numbers on the screen. -"But, for some reason, it has increased since the last test I took, interesting, is this what you meant?" he asks turning around to look at you.

"Not exactly, he said he'd take it from me, but if they're increasing that means he failed, right, but....no matter how hard I try I still can't use it."

"The Force? Well to my limited knowledge it's not possible to take it away, you can reduce the Midi-chlorian levels, but if a user is strong enough it will return, you would just need to reach a level closer to your original before it would fully return. This is the information I've gathered from some old Jedi text."

"Wait wait wait, I never said anything about the Force, and I'm no Jedi, and why do have old Jedi text anyway, that’s forbidden under the Empire's new laws," you say nervously. 

"No, you're not, but you were a strong Force user that worked for the Republic," he said adjusting his glasses.  
"What, no, uh why would you say that?!" you're starting to panic, wondering how he could possibly have figured this out and if everyone else knew...

"It was in your file - if you're wondering how I found it, - your blood is stored in the old files from the Republic I have saved, this includes some medical files and Jedi text, along with files on important members of GAR, when I input some of your blood samples into the scanner months ago your file popped up. Oh, don't worry I didn't tell any of the others, your secret is safe with me."

"Ah, I thought those files would have all been destroyed, thank you for not telling anyone."

"The files were destroyed by the Empire and made illegal, but I have a lot of old stuff stored on this thing from back before the Empire took power, it's all saved locally so they can't remove or access it unless they get their hands on this, but I've got plenty of safety features to protect this information," he says patting a terminal next to the holoscreen.

"Thank you Tech, so...then about the Force, it'll come back?"  
"It never left, your Midi-chlorians were taken down a lot, when comparing to your old records, but the more I study these numbers I think that not even this is true, I can't be certain, since I can't find the poison metal in your system anymore, but I think that is interfering with the Midi-chlorian count somehow." 

"What do you mean?"

"You should be able to use the Force, based off of other records including our own, it appears that the only thing that can actually remove Midi-chlorians from the body is by losing parts of your body, an example would be Echo, he lost an arm and both legs, his count is lower compared to his old files, but that hasn't happened to you. My conclusion would be that the metal is somehow preventing the scanner from picking up everything."

"But if I can technically use the Force, why can't I use it now?"

"I'm not sure...the Force seems to be something that is based not only in the body but also the mind. You went through a lot, and since your body is mostly back to normal, I would recommend focusing on your mind. -Echo told me you have a lot of nightmares about the torture, maybe start with that." he says before hearing his name being called from the other room by Hunter.

"TECH, get over here, we need you to review some bounty missions," Hunter shouts over the sound of his brothers chatting.

"You should go, thank you for the help Tech, I appreciate it, hopefully, I can figure out what's wrong," you say looking down at the ground wondering how you were supposed to stop these nightmares and regain your abilities.

"No worries, based on your files I think this is something you can handle, but if you ever need help from any of us, --especially Echo would be happy to help," he says smirking while walking off to join his brothers.

-You roll your eyes before heading back to your room. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------

You're sitting on the floor, trying to meditate.

You are back in the dark building, you hear screaming, - it sounds familiar, you move closer to the screaming.   
\- The closer you get the more you realize it's you screaming, it's your voice.   
There's talking, but you can't understand what they're saying, suddenly you hear a voice calling your name, you look around and there is no one.   
The voice gets louder and louder until you're snapped out of your meditation.

\--"Y/N, HEY, do you copy, Y/N?!" Hunter's voice comes in over your com.

It takes a moment for you to realize where you are and answer your com, "Sorry, what is it?" you ask slightly annoyed that you were snapped out of your meditation. 

"Come join us, we're discussing a potential bounty mission and we need your help."

"Okay, I'll be right there," you say turning off your com while you get up and head towards the main area of the ship.

Requesting your presence at one of their meetings wasn't something that happened before, usually, you hadn't been included in the past ones because of your health, you're still not back to normal, now suffering more from mental than physical pain, but hopefully, you could be of some use.

\-- "You called for me?" you ask walking into the area of the ship they always held their briefings in.

“Ah Y/N, yes we require your help on this mission, Tech decoded the frequency of the bounty request and it is coming from an Imperial base, we need the credits to stock up on our supplies and for fuel, but if the Empire finds out who we are we could be in some trouble. You're not a Clone so we're going to need you to accept the information from them and later on drop off the bounty, are you willing to do this?" Hunter said motioning you towards the table.

They all look at you, clearly concerned, especially Tech since he knows you use to be part of the Republic, but none of them knowing if you might have a bad past with the Empire.   
Knowing they need these credits badly, you overheard Tech and Echo talking the other day about how low they had run on credits and supplies after tending to you for so long and not being able to take the more dangerous bounties which always paid better. 

You don't know how much Tech knew, if he found out that you use to work under the direct command of the Chancellor who was now the Emperor, you were a powerful force user, you were also a bounty hunter before that, you'd been found by him because of your skills, you were hired to be a military leader within GAR, taking dangerous missions all the time, you served alongside some of the best battalions and Jedi.  
When order 66 happened you were expected to fulfill your duty, to die, being the right-hand woman of the Chancellor now turned Emperor you were a danger to him and his new Empire, but you refused to accept that fate and after escaping you deserted the military, changing your appearance and never looking back. Even though a friend of yours helped you fake your death, you didn't exactly want to march into an Imperial base and help them, but you did want to help the people who saved your life and that you've grown to care for.

After a long pause and their faces growing more concerned, you finally answered.

"Yes! - I owe you guys for saving and helping me, I'm also starting to like it here so I gotta do something besides waste your credits and supplies" you say with a confidant but sad grin on your face.

"Don't worry about that, - but it's good to have you onboard for this one," Hunter said giving you a datapad with the information on it. 

\-------------------------------------------------------

You all spend a few hours planning and going over all the information provided, you also decided to go over some details in case anything went wrong -- the autopilot dropped the ship out of hyperspace plotting its course for the planet where this meeting will take place, Tech takes over the landing of the ship, setting the ship down near the designated hanger of the Imperial base.

\---------------------------------------------------------

Anxiety rushes over you as you put on your armor, Echo comes over to your side looking concerned, "Y/N, are you sure you want to do this? We aren't going to force you to do this, clearly, there's something bothering you about this mission and -" 

"Echo it's fine," you say coldly, cutting him off, causing a sad expression to fall over his face, "Y/N, you know you can tell me anything."

"Not this Echo, trust me you're better off not knowing," you say putting on the last parts of your armor, putting on your helmet, and activating the voice changer, hoping this will keep the Empire from knowing who you are, even with your change in appearance you rather be safe than sorry.

Echo attempts to say something but you ignore him, making his sad expression turn into a frustrated one filling his face as you headed over to the main part of the ship, walking out the door as the others wish you good luck, Tech had connected their coms through your helmet so they could give you tips or information, and just in case anything goes wrong they'll know right away this time. 

\--------------------------------------------------

You march over to the building housing the office where your meeting will take place, avoiding as many Imperial people as you can on your way there.   
\-- You finally reach the office, knocking on the door identifying yourself as only a bounty hunter here for the mission they requested.

"Come in," says the Imperial on the other side of the door, you push the button to let yourself in, walking in you notice a person standing off to the side of the desk, she looks very unfriendly her short black hair rounding her face in an unflattering way, the man behind the desk looked pretty standard, clean-cut black hair with some gray showing, but when he turned to fully face you you noticed something -- he was a Clone!?!   
What the heck you thought...well good thing they sent you, otherwise, they'd be in a world of trouble, suddenly you notice on the side of his face there was a scar tracing around the side of his eye in a distinct cut, you'd seen this before, you'd seen him before. After you'd been tortured your memory had gotten pretty bad, not helped by the many sleepless nights caused by nightmares, but you know him you just can't place it, right as you think of who he is he introduces himself.

"I'm Commander Cody, who are you?", you can't believe it Cody is working for the Empire, well actually you can, unlike Rex he wasn't one who defied orders, at least not easily or often, but you'd rather not think about this because you use to be good friends and now he's working for the ruling force in the galaxy that wants you dead, what would he do if he knew it was you? 

You notice just how miserable he looks, he always enjoyed being out on the front lines, not stuck behind a desk, you try to lighten the mood some with your classic sarcasm which always use to earn you a smile from him.   
"The bounty hunter you called, genius!" 

"You were able to track us, hmph, at least that means you're somewhat competent, what are your skills?" he asks coldly, not even attempting to play along with your sarcastic jab.

"Whatever you need them to be," you reply jokingly 

\--"You are a cocky one, show some respect" the lady standing to the side snorts out.  
"Pryce!" Cody snaps shooting an angry look at her, making her squirm with fear. 

"Anyway, what I need you to do is stop some terrorist forces that are attacking a mining company, our units have had little luck stopping them or finding their armories and leader, I need you to go there and stop them, destroy the armories, and any weapons you find, then bring me their leader, alive, understood?"

"So what you're saying is the Empire can't do its job and you need me? Well, you’re in luck so don't worry I can handle this," you say crossing your arms.

The lady named Pryce speaks up again, "You better not destroy or damage any of our mining equipment, understood??" basically yelling this at you, earning another death glare from Cody, before he reaches for a datapad on his table sliding it across to you. 

"That contains all the information you need, and don't tell anyone we hired you for this."

"Got it," you say quickly looking over the datapad scanning it with your helmet before getting up to leave, "Good to se-... um... meet you, Commander," you say hoping he didn't notice your slip up.

Both of them just look at you not saying anything.

\--After you leave the room Pryce turns to Cody, "You think we can trust that one?' she asks.

"I trust her more than I do Stormtroopers that aren't Clones," he says with a huff.

"The Empire was right to decommission the Clones, they are old and aren't needed, not to mention most of them seem to be in bad moods," she says walking towards the door.

"Well, when we have to deal with people of your kind it'll put us in a bad mood. Oh, and if you eventually want a position in the Empire I would recommend you try and get along with us, this mission isn't over yet so you'll be stuck with me for a while," he said leaning back in his chair folding his arm and smirking.

"This isn't some mission, it's a simple job my father asked you to do, but since your Stormtroopers failed him, he made me come check in on you and you had hired this bounty hunter filth. If you still want us to work with the Empire might I suggest showing me some more respect Clone."

"Who are you going to work for Ms. Pryce? You don't even call the shots at Pryce Mining, your father does and I doubt he'd be pleased to hear about your behavior towards the Empire." Cody scoffs causing her to stop in the doorway, frozen with anxiety and fear.

"You're right, forgive me, it's been a long day. I will be in contact in a few standard days, otherwise, update me if you hear anything sooner from her," she said before walking out the door.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You're all sitting around a table looking over some holomaps and texted displayed on the holoscreen Tech had set up.

"It seems these people attacking the Pryce Mining company are mostly angry locals, but, the weapons and tactics they are using are not their own, I can't trace any of the weapons, but I assume they are coming from a better-organized group with ties to the underground. Their tactics, on the other hand, are very similar to battle tactics used during the Clone Wars by the Republic Army." 

"So what you're saying Tech is that these guys are getting outside help?" Hunter says hoping to get to the point Tech always seemed to drag out.

"Well yes, but I don't know who is helping them." 

"That doesn't change our objective, -- Echo you and Y/N go over the tactics some more, I'm having the both of you go with Crosshair to take out the armories in the southern sector, while Wrecker, Tech and I will take the northern sector."

"Are we sure Wrecker can comply with the stealth part of this mission?" you say jokingly.

"Just cause I hate em doesn't mean I can't do em," Wrecker huffs.

"All right everyone, cut the chatter, let's get to work, oh prepare yourselves, this mission won't be easy so you all better be on your a game," Hunter says before heading over to the cockpit with Tech.

\------------------

Echo and you look over the tactics some more, you notice them being similar to ones you had helped teach Saw and his rebellion during the Clone Wars, Rex and Anakin had drawn up most of these tactics. 

"Something about these tactics seems familiar," Echo says studying the information on the holomap you guys put together.

"They're similar to General Skywalker's and Rex's early battle tactics during the Clone Wars, I know cause I helped Rex and Y/O/N work on th---" suddenly he cuts himself off realizing he's just told you an important part of his past.

You stand there in shock, realizing that the man sitting next to you has to be the same Echo you served with, no there's no mistake now, he is in fact the man you loved and served with on countless missions. You had spent some late nights together working on these tactics, and the way he says your name is the same, you can't help but let a shocked expression flow over your face, unsure if you should say anything, or if you should keep quiet...

"Oh, um sorry, forget I said that," he blurts out quickly noticing your reaction. 

The room becomes awkwardly quiet, - filled with a stillness that was uncomfortable. You both look back to the information displayed on the holoscreens.

Should you tell him, you think... Should I tell him everything...finally... -or should I spare him from everything, clearly he doesn't know it's you, how could he though, you don't act much like your old self and you look nothing alike.   
Even though it hasn't been all that long since the end of the war it was enough time to move on from the life before, not to mention Echo had died some years ago, or so you thought.   
You wonder where Echo’s been all this time, how didn’t you know he was back, that he was alive, how was he alive? 

-So many questions filled your mind, your breathing started to become as sporadic as your heartbeat, your brain was overloaded with all this information. Your legs started to tremble and you could feel a cold sweat breaking out across your body as your vision tunneled, you looked over to him for a short moment before everything went black and the only sound you heard was the painful crash of your head on the ground and Echo calling your name before calling for help.


	5. Love or Let Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Echo expresses some concern over you, you try to brush it off because it's time to get on with this bounty mission, -in one of the ensuing firefights you're unable to summon the force to push Echo away from some incoming blaster fire resulting in him being hit, you stay with him hoping to provide some comfort, the medication Tech gave him leads to some heart to heart conversations between the both of you after you struggle with the choice of telling him how you feel and who you were or letting go of your past...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> —————————————————————————————  
> Echo x (Female) Reader fic  
> Rating: 18+ Eventual NSFW Smut  
> Content Rating: Mature+  
> -Content warnings: Injury, Medical stuff, Angst, Anxiety, Self Doubt  
> -TW's for this Chapter: PTSD, Nightmares, Trauma (only references from previous chapters nothing new)  
> \--If there are any warning labels I’m missing please inform me
> 
> Y/N = Your name Y/O/N = Your original name  
> (since your character is going under an alias for most of the fic before later on revealing her real name)
> 
> This fic is also on my Tumblr (same name) you can find it linked in the masterlist,  
> if you want to be added to a taglist please let me know on Tumblr.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------

You wake up sweating and panicked after just having another nightmare.   
As you sit up you realize that you're in your bed, head aching from where you had hit it when you fell to the ground.   
Unsure of how much time had passed, your stomach growls and you decide to get up to find the boys and some food.  
\--Walking into the hallway you hear them talking not too far away and head towards their voices.

"Hey so what'd I miss?" you say walking in on whatever conversation they were having. 

"Not much, but good thing you're here now. How are you feeling?" Hunter asks motioning you over.

"I'm okay, my head is killing me though. What happened? All I remember is my head hitting the ground."

"We aren't sure why you passed out, Tech and I checked you over and all your vitals were good. Though you didn't eat anything yesterday evening, so, maybe it would be good to get you some grub." Echo says looking over at you.

Echo gets up and grabs something off a nearby surface placing it in front of you, --you sit down pulling the plate with a sandwich on it over to you as Echo sits next to you smiling.  
-"Thanks, Echo," you whisper looking at him before grabbing the sandwich and taking a bite.

"Tech and Echo finished up our attack plans, we'll be landing in a few standard hours, so it's best we go over everything once more together before we all head out there," Hunter says grabbing a datapad and pulling some info up on the screen.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------

The ship lands as you finish putting on your armor and getting your weapons prepped, fragments of your conversation with Echo ringing through your mind slowly reminding you of why you had passed out.   
\--Finding out that this Echo was, in fact, the Echo you knew...you feel dumb now for not realizing it sooner, but you saw him die, or so you thought, you still can't grasp the fact that he's alive, that he's okay, and living with his brothers.   
Even though this life is far from perfect it's better than death or being part of the Empire and you're thankful that you're here with him now.......soon you'll tell him... but for now this mission needs your focus.

\--"Y/N, are you ready?" Echo asks stepping in to check on you.  
"Oh, uh yeah, sorry was getting lost in my mind."

"You sure you're feeling okay?" he says placing a hand on your shoulder.

"Yea I'm okay Echo," you say unconvincingly.  
"Y/N, just know you can always talk to me, about anything, I know you said that I was better off not knowing, but...no matter what it is if it makes you feel better telling me about it I want you too."

"Echo, please...don't..." you say stubbornly, not wanting to have a repeat of this conversation again, you hate shutting him down like this, but this mission needs your attention and you just can't tell Echo yet.

"Don't what?" his face looking pained as he asks.

"I...I just can't tell you, not now, not yet..."  
"Then promise me you'll tell me soon, I can't stand seeing you struggling like this," he says with tears building in his eyes.

"I'll tell you everything soon," you say averting your eyes from his.  
"Promise?" he says smiling gently to hide his sadness.

"...promise," you whisper leaning over to kiss him on the cheek, curing his worry for the moment. 

Both of you walk out the ship together joining the others - setting off to where you would start this mission, --this time you weren't alone.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

You get into position with Echo and Crosshair waiting for Hunters signal.  
-After a few moments, the call comes through Echo's com.

"Okay pick your targets and move in, I don't want to kill anyone, we'll leave them for the Empire to pick up later," Hunter instructs.   
"Copy that, we're moving in," Echo says stepping out from behind cover as he gives you and Crosshair directions on which targets to take out first.

\--Stunning everyone that came through your view as you all rush into the weapons facility, placing charges where you had planned out, grabbing what supplies you could use for yourselves.

After making your way back out of the facility you guys are ambushed by some reinforcements.

"KRIFF, LOOK OUT they're surrounding us," you shout ducking for cover.

A crazy firefight ensues as the three of you try fending off the reinforcements, stunning one after another, but they kept coming.

"Where's Hunter, he should have been here by now," Crosshair scoffs trying his best to take out the snipers shooting at you guys.

\--All of you are busy focusing on the shots coming at you that no one noticed people coming up behind you until it's too late.  
Turning around you notice a guy aiming his blaster right at Echo.

"ECHO BEHIND YOU!" you scream trying to force push him without luck, so you resort to shooting the guy, sadly not before he's able to shoot Echo.   
-Echo lands on the ground with a thud clenching his side and letting out a grunt of pain. 

“AHHH” he groans, clutching his side as he tries to move.

"Echo are you---"   
"-I'M FINE, just focus on the guys shooting at us," he blurts out trying to get to his knees.

You're able to dodge the blaster fire and stun some more of the guys that were coming from the rear, before returning your focus to the group Crosshair was shooting at.   
\--Suddenly you all hear someone yelling and notice a bunch of stun shots coming from behind some trees.

"Finally!" Crosshair says looking over at Wreckers entrance followed by Hunter and Tech.

"PICK ON SOMEONE ELSE WHY DON'T YA!" Wrecker yells as he punches some of the men, knocking them out cold.   
You almost feel bad for them, but they were trying to kill you guys so a little payback was nice.

"You guys alright?" Hunter asks dropping down beside Echo checking his injury.  
"We're fine, Echo not so much," Crosshair tells him.  
"If you guys are finished we should head back to the ship," you say concerned about Echo.

"We found their second in command, apparently the guy who runs this operation is currently off-world so there's not much we can do about that part of the mission," Hunter explains as he helps Echo up throwing his arm over his shoulder. 

"Let's get out of here boys," he shouts over to Wrecker and Tech, -they grab the unconscious body of the second in command and take him back to the ship.

Luckily these guys didn't follow you too far from their base after you guys detonated the charges, buying you time to get in the ship and take off before any more trouble or blaster fire found you.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------

You and Tech helped Echo to the makeshift med bay, the same one you had spent way too long in.

"We have to take off his armor and patch up that wound right away," Tech says looking to you for help.

"Okay," you reply working at removing the parts of armor surrounding the blaster bolt injury, being careful not to hurt him more.

\--"Ouch," Echo winces in pain as you peel back his blacks revealing the extent of the injury.  
"Sorry," you say placing a hand next to the wound trying to ease his pain.

"Let me clean it and then we can put on a bacta patch," Tech says walking over with supplies in hand.

\--The both of you finish fixing up Echo, Tech heads out to work on other tasks, while you stay with Echo, hoping to comfort him some before he fell asleep.   
The pain meds made him a little loopy so there wasn't much point in talking to him about anything important now...or maybe you should tell him, -- tell him who you were and how you felt about him... though with your luck, he would forget the whole conversation, which for some reason you were okay with...

-But why, why didn't you want him to know... is it because you're worried it would hurt the relationship you had now with him, he did show interest in you, so why not just start over with everything... If he knew the truth would he turn you away, or would he still show interest in you??

Kriff, why is this so hard, why is this even a thing I'm worried about?   
Urgh, this is so stupid, why were decisions like this always so difficult for you?!

\--"Y/N what's wrong?" Echo asks reaching his hand over to rub your cheek caringly, yet again noticing you were struggling with something.

"It's nothing," you say trying to hold back tears of frustration.  
"-You promised you were going to tell me." 

"Not now Echo, you're not in the right state of mind due to the medication and it'll make you fall asleep at any moment, there's no point in talking now," you say trying to hold back tears as you grab his hand with yours trying to pull it away from your face so you could look away from him, hating yourself for always turning away his help.

"Y/N! Stop, stop with the excuses, and stop holding everything in. I might not know what's bothering you, but I know something is, and it's clearly important to you, and I care about you so...please...you can tell me. --And if I fall asleep or forget you can tell me again!" he says breaking his serious tone with a smirk at the end.

Tears freely flowing down your face as he speaks to you, unable to hold back anymore...you bite your lip in an attempt to prevent the sobbing sounds from escaping your mouth as your hand lets go of his, dropping to your side as you try to turn your head away.

"...Y/N...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry."  
Echo uses his thumb to rube at the tears on your face before he reaches his hand around to cup the back of your head pulling your face close to him, resting your head in the crook of his neck, you place your hand on his bare chest to keep yourself from falling on him, not wanting to hurt him more... 

\--"...Echo..." you finally speak after holding that position for a few minutes, your breath gently hitting his face as you move your head up slightly to look at him.  
“Echo, I promise I’ll tell you when this mission is over.”

“Hmph” he huffs, “Well if you can’t tell me yet, then I have something to tell you-”

You look at him surprised with the confidence in his tone, wondering what he’s so willing to tell you and why now...

"-Y/N...I...I--" before he's able to finish the medicine takes hold of him and he falls asleep. You catch his hand as it slides off your shoulder, --kissing him on the forehead before pulling the cover across his body to keep him warm.   
Strange - this time you were the one sitting there holding his hand, watching over him as he slept. I... I wonder if this is how he felt, you think examining your current feelings of concern and love as you watch him.

\--After watching over him for a while you decide it's time for you to go.  
"I love you," you whisper kissing his cheek as you get up to go sleep in your own bed, your head aching from crying. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Thank you for reading, the next chapter will be out about a week after the published date.  
If you want to be added to a tag list please message me on Tumblr <3 uwu luv you all


	6. Daytime Dreaming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Echo has woken up and goes to find you - when he does the both of you tease each other some, realizing there's a similar passion between you that has been covered up, hidden away, but it's hard to contain and maybe now you can both finally express your real feelings...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> —————————————————————————————  
> Echo x (Female) Reader fic  
> Rating: 18+ Eventual NSFW Smut  
> Content Rating: Mature+ (18+)  
> Content Warning: Kissing (Smutty/Descriptive)
> 
> Y/N = Your name Y/O/N = Your original name  
> (since your character is going under an alias for most of the fic before later on revealing her real name)
> 
> This fic is also on my Tumblr (same name) you can find it linked in the masterlist,  
> if you want to be added to a taglist please let me know on Tumblr.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------

After another night of nightmares you wake up feeling more exhausted, your head throbs with pain, you hoped that it would have recovered from the crying you did yesterday, but the lack of sleep probably didn’t help it. 

Slowly getting up you walk over to the box of your belongings and sort through it, grabbing some new undergarments before heading over to the refresher in the other corner of the room, hoping to grab a warm shower to relax your body and mind before you go to check on Echo.

–The warm water runs over your body for a long while, until you finally turn off the water - walking around the wall that blocked the shower off from the rest of the small refresher, your head is still throbbing despite the nice shower.

As you stand there trying to think of what you were going to do next you hear Echo calling your name in a concerned tone,  
“Y/N? Are you here?”

He shouldn’t be up and walking so soon, did Tech check on him already?! Concerned for him you rush over opening the door of the refresher without thinking about your current attire, or lack thereof.

“I’m here Echo, what are you doing up you should be resting?!” you huff stepping out of the door walking towards him.

He turns around to look at you - with a flustered and slightly mortified look falling across his face, before quickly looking to the side.   
-Embarrassment washes over you as you realize you forgot to wrap a towel around yourself before you opened the door and walked out in front of Echo.

“OH, kriff, sorry!” you blurt out stepping back grabbing the towel off the counter in the refresher and wrapping it around your body.

“Sorry…I…uh forgot I was –”  
“Naked?” Echo interjected with nervous laughter raising his eyes to look at you again now that you were covered. 

“Yeah,” you say slapping a hand on your face letting out an embarrassed sigh.

“It’s okay,” he says trying to reassure you.

You had to try really hard not to respond with some kind of joke, knowing it would just make him more embarrassed.

“So, um, did you need something?”

“I wanted to check up on you, you weren’t in the medbay–”  
"You came to check on me? Echo, you’re the one who got shot, you’re supposed to be in the medbay!“ you huff interrupting him.

"I know, Tech did some scans and cleared me, just need to take it easy, that’s all, I promise I’m okay now.”

“-I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you woke up, guess I was in the shower longer than I thought. I was going to come to check up on you, but my head was killing me so I thought a quick warm shower would help ease it, clearly, I forgot the quick part.”

“It’s okay, I was just worried about you, is your head still bothering you after the shower?”

“Sorry I made you worry. Yeah it is, probably could use some grub, that might help it,” you say as your stomach lets out a small grumble, making Echo and you chuckle.

“I’ll go make something for you then. -Just come find me when you’re done, not that I walk in on anything again,” he says jokingly.

“Very funny Echo, don’t worry the next time it will be on purpose,” you joke back, making his mouth drop open slightly for a second as his face filled with embarrassment.

You step closer to him placing your hand on his face feeling the warmth run into your hand, the closeness causing his and your heartbeat to increase.  
–His eyes finally looked back at yours, full of wonder and confusion, his gaze moving down to look at your lips which were slightly parted.

He didn’t want to hold back his feelings anymore, slowly moving in towards you, lifting a hand up to cup the small of your back so he could pull you in closer, tilting his head to the side slightly before pressing his lips into yours.

They were soft and warm, it felt so tender as his lips slowly moved around yours, changing their position. 

You moved your hands around his neck pulling him in for a deeper kiss, sliding your tongue into his warm wet mouth making him let out a deep moan filled with pleasure.   
–He lets your tongue explore his mouth for a bit longer before finally using his own tongue to give yours some competition, tilting his head more to allow his tongue to dive deeper into your mouth, making you whimper and lean into him, your legs shaking as your heart bounded.

–“Echo,” you breathe out heavily as you both pull away for some air.  
“…Y/N…” he mummers in reply moving in - licking up the saliva that was running down the corner of your mouth before gently kissing you again.

You lightly bite his bottom lip as he pulls away causing him to let out a little moan of delight.

“Y/N,” he says between heavy breaths as a smile crawls across his face.

“That was better my dreams,” you joke.  
“You dreamed about me?” a smirk ever so present on his face now.

“No, I meant, like it’s better than my dreams,” you try to nervously explain, his only response is a tilt of his head and a raised eyebrow.

“I dream about a lot of things Echo, though your the only pleasant thing I see in my sleep,” you say dropping your hands to rest on his chest.

“Well then, I’m glad I can improve your dreams some,” he said with a laugh.

–“Oh, guess I should uhh…should…apologies for blowing off your concern the past few days…I just…I was just stressed… I –” he stops you with another kiss, gently moving his lips and tongue to keep you silent.

He pulls away and moves his mouth down - kissing your neck –“I know,” he says pulling back for a second before kissing the crook of your neck moving across to your shoulder nibbling some at your bare skin.

“Echo….ahhh….” you gasp out, your legs growing weaker as he licks all the way back up to your neck before diving his tongue back in your mouth. For once your mind was quiet, purely enjoying the feeling of him and how gentle he was.

–“If we’re going to be sharing our feelings about past events I guess I should tell you what I was trying to say before I fell asleep,” he says after pulling away from your mouth letting his tongue leave just a second after his lips break from yours, making you want to grab him and pull him back in for a more desperate kiss, but you wanted to hear what he had to say. What he wanted to tell you…

Just as he’s about to tell you the both of you hear Wrecker yelling out Echo’s name, his footsteps getting louder as he approaches your room.

-Reluctantly you pull away kissing him on the cheek before you slip back into the refresher closing the door as Wrecker enters.

“ECHO?! – Oh here you are, what are you doing standing around here?! Tech is looking for you, come on!”

“Um, just a –”

“NOW, come on!” he grunts.

“Uh, yeah…um coming,” Echo says walking over to join his brother as they head out of the room.

———————————————-

After getting dressed you head over to grab some grub before going to the cockpit. - “Hey boys, when will we be landing?” you say leaning against the door eating a sandwich.

“Shortly, Hunter and Crosshair have our prisoner you’ll be dropping him off in the same building you met with the Imperial informant. Even though he’s not the leader hopefully we’ll still get a good amount of credits for him,” Tech said.

“Understood, I’ll go get him,” you say turning around running into Echo.  
"Uff…Echo…“ you say as your face heats up from the touch of his arms around you, reminding you of how badly you wanted him.

"Hunter needs you,” Echo says grinning slightly at your expression.  
"Tech just told me, we’re about to land and I need to get the prisoner.“

”....yeah...“ he says looking at you with a lustful expression before leaning in toward you until Wrecker bumps into him, shocking the both of you.

”There you are!“

”Wrecker what are you doing here you’re supposed to be stacking the supplies!“ Echo scuffs annoyed that he was interrupted.

"But I finished it already.”

-“Oh…”

“Crosshair was shouting at me to get Y/N as I was on my way over here,” Wrecker says looking over to you.

“Yeah, I was on my way over there,” you say walking past Echo and Wrecker to get to where they were holding the prisoner. Echo looks at you with a small defeated smile as you walk away from him and go out the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NOTE: Sorry I completely forgot to post this on here when I had originally finished it, and sorry this chapter is a little shorter than the others, didn’t have much time to work on it this past week, but I also thought it had a good stopping point before it gets back into the plot again XD enjoy this small amount of smut, there will be more in the future *insert evil laugh*


	7. Maddening Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After bringing the prisoner to the Empire and taking your reward you head back to the ship, worrying yourself about Cody and if there was a way to help him escape the Empire.   
> Knowing you couldn't do it alone you ask Echo and the Bad Batch for help, also enlisting the help of a friend of yours.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> —————————————————————————————  
> Echo x (Female) Reader fic  
> Rating: 18+ Eventual NSFW Smut  
> Content Rating: Mature+ (18+)  
> Content Warning: Kissing, Suggestive Themes, Crying
> 
> Y/N = Your name Y/O/N = Your original name  
> (since your character is going under an alias for most of the fic before later on revealing her real name)
> 
> This fic is also on my Tumblr (same name) you can find it linked in the masterlist,  
> if you want to be added to a taglist please let me know on Tumblr.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------

"You boys wanted me?" 

"Ahh yes, Y/N we're going to need you to deliver this guy to the same Imperials you met before, okay? They'll give you the payment, after that just come right back to the ship," Hunter said to you.

"Okay, but what's if they don't want the guy, he's not exactly the one they were looking for."

"Leave him there anyway," Crosshair said with a smirk.  
"If they're not willing to take him, we can bring him back to the planet."

"Understood, and what's if they want us to do another job?"  
"Decline," both of them said at the same time.

"We don't want to work with the Empire more than we already had too, this was only so we could get supplies and fuel, hopefully, we'll never have to see or work with them again," Hunter said with a solemn expression.

"I understand, I'll do my best."  
"We know you will," Crosshair said to your surprise.

"You know the Empire isn't normally kind to people like me," the guy held captive scoffs, "Turning me in makes you no better than them, doesn't matter how you feel about working with them, you're helping them right now."

"If you keep talking, I won't be kind to you," Crosshair huffs placing a covering over the man's mouth.  
"I'll be happy to have him out of our hair," Hunter said shaking his head with an exhausted expression covering his face.  
"Don't worry I'll get him out of here once we land," you say.

Just then over the com system of the ship Tech's voice echos through, "We just landed, the Imperials are waiting for you, probably want to get going before they get impatient."

Grabbing your helmet you slide it over your head, activating the voice changer before taking hold of the prisoner, leading him to the exit of the ship, taking him outside, and heading towards the building that you had been in not too long ago. -You couldn't help but wonder if Cody would be there again, if he was alone this time, maybe, just maybe you could talk to him... clearly, he didn't look happy working for the Empire, but the Empire probably didn't give him much of a choice.

All he knew was the Republic and when they switched most clones were forced to continue their service, the older ones had the chance to retire, but they got nothing if they did, unless they retired to Kamino to train new recruits, even someone of Cody's rank might be out of luck, just wandering the galaxy like you and the Bad Batch were.

Everyone always thought Cody was a stickler for rules and would follow every rule, but he wasn't and he didn't. As his friend you knew him better than most and saw how truly caring he was, he had a good heart, a sense of humor, loyalty to his brothers, and the Jedi. 

He served because he didn't know anything else, at the time of the war he didn't want to think about it much outside of the battles, sometimes you would talk about the future and if the war ended where he'd want to go, what he'd want to do. He kept saying that he needed to be focused, for his brothers, for his Jedi general, and for all those the Republic was trying to protect, he was bred for war, to serve no matter what, and even though he did, he didn't always agree or want too... 

The Empire wasn't the Republic, that was clear from the outside, but people often forgot those like Cody, who were made to fight for the Republic, they lost everything they had, their world view was shattered, and their loyalty broken.  
\- With the Republic and Jedi gone, they had nothing else but the Empire, no one else to follow but the Emperor. It was probably designed this way, whoever planned this whole war out, they knew, they used and manipulated everyone, most of all the clones. 

The train of thought you had was broken with a sharp pain in your side, as you snap back to reality you see your prisoner running off after punching you, - it takes a moment to recover and regain some air in your lunges.  
As you take a deep breath in you start running, pulling out your blaster and setting it to stun, yelling at him to stop, but he doesn't comply, so you take aim and shoot. - He gets stunned he stumbles landing on the ground, you reach him and make sure he's okay before picking him up and taking him to the building.

Knowing you were later than you already had been before he tried to run off, you apologize as you enter, "Hey, sorry I'm late, this guy tried to run off," you said entering the room, dragging him behind you.  
Cody looks up from his datapad, stopping his conversation with Pryce as he looks to you and the prisoner you just dropped on the ground.

"Guess I should have knocked," you joked, eliciting no response from either of them.

"Tough crowd," you mumble this time you see the side of Cody's mouth twitch into a small smile before you continue, "Oh, he's not the one you were looking for, but that guy was off-world so we brought you this guy instead, the second in command," you tell them lightly kicking the guy on the floor.

"Since he's not the one we asked for, but still is valuable to the Empire we can accept him, the reward will be reduced some though," Cody says typing something into his datapad and motioning Pryce over.

"Understood," you say.

"Get the prisoner out of here, I'll finish this up," Cody told Pryce.  
"Glady," she replied walking towards you getting the man off the ground, and leading him away, -- before the door closes behind her she turns to you, "Good work bounty hunter."

"Well, that was surprising," you accidentally say out loud.  
"Her father's mining company is worth a lot, as is their family's reputation."  
"I don't much care for either the company or her family, Cody," you scoff, quickly realizing your mistake, you've slipped up again, you know that he's caught on this time.

"So, who are you?"

"Just a bounty hunter here to pick up my reward," you say reaching out for the credits in the case on the table, - he grabs your wrist, "Who are you? - I'll give you one more chance to answer."

"I told you already, besides it's not your job to care."  
"No, it's not my job, unless you're someone important."  
"I'm not, now can I go?" You scoffed.

Ignoring you, he continues on with his interrogation, "You knew my name."  
"Of course you told me your name."  
"No, when you first came here, you stopped yourself before saying it fully, but you were going to say my name, so I'll ask you again, who are you?"

"Why don't you guess?" You say sarcastically making him annoyed.  
"Get out of here," he says releasing your wrist.  
"What? Why?" You say now confused by his sudden change.

"Unless you want me to arrest you, go, - now."  
Your head tilts down, staring at the desk, "Cody there's more out there than you know, more beyond the Empire." His brows furrowed at your statement as he turned his head away from you.

"You know I can't...Y/O/N."  
"How did you know...that it's me."  
"You're one of the best soldiers I ever fought with, it's not hard to imagine that you survived."  
"And you won't turn me in? Surely now that you know who I am you'd have to turn me in."

"That's not one of my orders..."  
"That's a lie and you know it, the Empire would want me dead."  
"But you are," he says with a small smirk, "- Now go."

"Thank you...Cody...I'll make sure that you aren't stuck here forever, I know this isn't what you want, the life you want, -- I'll find a way out for you," you tell him grabbing the credits and walking away, only turning to look at him as he said his goodbye. - "Take care of yourself, -- and the others," he says before the door closes behind you. 

You can't help but let tears roll down your face, covered by your helmet, but no less painful. - Slowly walking back to the ship your mind is filled with thoughts, should you tell them, they were clones too, Echo of all people would want to save his Commander, his friend, but Cody was clear. - He knew if you tried to help him get away from the Empire that you'd be found out and probably killed.

He gave you a chance to escape, and you would return the favor, you promised him and yourself, this wasn't something you would let yourself forget. Maybe you could find a fellow bounty hunter, enlist one of your friends to save him, you'd find a way, any way, Cody deserved to be free, to have an actual choice and not a forced decision.

\-- When your thoughts reach their end you're standing in front of the Havoc Marauder, choking back your tears as you com Tech to let you in, walking up the steps into the ship before the doors close behind you.

You place the box of credits down on the nearest flat surface you found, walking off to your room despite hearing the sound of someone's voice. They were trying to say something to you, but the words didn't register in your mind instead just echoing like your head was nothing more than an empty room.

The person calling out to you was Tech, - Wrecker, and Crosshair by his side, wondering what was wrong with you, since you brought the credits they assumed it was a success, but then why were you acting so strange.  
Tech tries to follow you but Wrecker stops him, "Let her go, I don't think she wants to talk right now."

"Something is clearly bothering her, and besides we need to know if we can leave this planet, the Empire isn't going to happily wait for us." 

"Well she brought the credits, and there are no Stormtroopers chasing after her so I think we're in the clear to leave," Crosshair said opening the case to show Tech the credits.

"Okay, I'll get us out of here then..." he said hesitantly and with sadness.  
He sits down and starts up the take-off procedures, soon after the ship leaves the ground and the planet off to find a refueling station.

You feel the ship shake and turn as you sit on the ground, knees against your chest, listening to the sound of your own breathing. Why were you so upset, you promised to help Cody...you couldn't get him out now, he refused and it never would have worked...but what if it did. Now he's still stuck there, you knew there wouldn't be a better chance to get him out unless the Empire hired you for another job. But knowing Cody he'd probably make sure you guys never showed up anywhere near Imperials again.

Knowing plenty of Bounty Hunters, surely, you could find someone who would be willing to save him, but it wouldn't be an easy job, not to mention you don't have the credits to pay for the kidnapping of a high ranking Imperial.  
There was one person who might be able to pull it off, if you talked to Echo he would be up for helping, right? Cody was a good friend of his, and maybe if the Bad Batch joined you'd all be able to rescue him.

There’s so much worry in you, - that maybe he decides not to leave, you can free him, but after that, the only life he would have is being on the run from the Empire, or if you faked his death a life like you, jumping from job to job.  
That's not something he would want or was it...you were his friend but even you are unsure of what Cody wanted out of life, all he ever talked about was his service and doing his best to keep his brother and the Jedi safe.  
With that all gone...what does he have, what does he want? 

Maybe this wasn't something to worry about, but, you couldn't help it, your mind always wandered off into every possibility no matter how unrealistic, this ability helped during battles and the war, but wasn't much of a help during non-combat times...becoming more of a hindrance than a help.

\----------------

"Where's Y/N?" Echo asked Tech as he and Hunter enter the cockpit of the ship.  
"She went off somewhere, I'm assuming her quarters," he responds, his eyes focused on the view outside the ship.  
"Did something happen, is she okay?"  
"We're not sure if something happened, she didn't talk when she came back, just dropped off the case of credits and walked off," Crosshair says.

"Yeah she didn't seem to be too happy, or even notice us talking to her," Wrecker added a sad expression arising on his face as he spoke.  
"You should probably go check on her Echo," Hunter said placing his hand on Echo's shoulder, noticing the tension in his body.  
"I will, I'll be back later," Echo said turning around, walking off to your room.

When he reaches the door he pauses for a moment, hesitant to open it, -- he knocks and says his name but there's no reply... "Y/N what's wrong, you know you can talk to me, about anything."

His words cut deep, part of you wanting to be left alone and the other part just wanted to cry into his chest...he attempts to ask again, still met with no response, his words making your heart hurt more each time he spoke, you could hear the pain in his voice, the worry, the desire to help.

You hear what sounds like his back hitting the door sliding down to sit on the ground, he really wasn't going to leave you, slowly you get up and walk over, unlocking the door. As it slides open Echo catches himself not having expected the door to vanish on him, as he looks up he sees you, looking down at him, tears visible in your eyes.

"Y/N what happened?" He asks softly, getting up to stand in front of you stepping forward slightly so the door could close behind him before he wrapped his arms around you, pulling you against his chest as tears started to roll down your cheeks.

"It's --" you're unable to get the words out, instead just relaxing into his body, trying to breathe through the sobbing. - He leads you over to sit on your bed, pulling you onto his lap before he scooted back to lean against the wall.

"I won't push you to talk about it, just know when you're ready I'll be here to listen," he whispers gently placing a kiss on your forehead. Despite both of you being fully covered in armor it was still comfortable, just the feeling of leaning against him was enough to calm you.

Composing yourself some you pull back placing your arms on his shoulders to balance yourself as you looked at him. "It's kinda a dumb reason...I mean I'm just overthinking things again like I always do and I'm just making myself worry and become upset... I'm...I don't know, I shouldn't be crying about this and I shouldn't be worrying everyone and -- hmmp." - Your incoherent rambling is cut off by the feeling of his lips pressing into yours, they weren't moving...they were still, just gently pressed against your own lips, almost as if he was giving you a moment to quiet your mind and gather your thoughts.

When he pulls away you find yourself leaning towards him, chasing that feeling again, wrapping your fingers around his head pulling him back for a kiss, this time both of you moving your lips. His hands slide down some to rest on your hips as they pressed into his own, a low moan travels through his throat as your tongue starts to explore his mouth.  
You weren't exactly sure why your emotions swayed so strongly from sobbing like a child to wanting to kiss Echo, you'd never felt anything like the feeling you had for him, nothing more you wanted than to be around him and to show him that affection. Especially after finding out that he was alive and that he’d been through so much without you by his side.

Before either of you has any chance to go further you pull back, not wanting to stop, but also just wanting to talk, to explain what's bothering you. You could tell he was still worried about you, feeling it in the way he kissed you, more like he was trying to comfort you and help you think about something else.

He watches you as you're trying to find the words, as your mouth moves to speak taking a moment before your mind catches up and formulates a sentence, "What's bothering me is...that I -- I saw Cody, he was the one that gave me the mission details and the credits when I left. I asked him to come with, I knew he wasn't happy there with the Empire, but he refused, he didn't want to put us in danger... We have to get him out of there, but I don't know how or if he'll come, the only life he's know is his service and I'm worried he won't be any happier living a life like this."

Echo looks at you with a shocked expression, trying to comprehend everything you just said, it was a lot to take in and he honestly wasn't sure what to think or say. "You're sure it was Cody?" He asks only to gain himself more time to think of a response.

"Yeah, no doubt, he knew who I was too..."  
"Knowing Cody he wouldn't go, but only because he cares about those he served with and would never let them put their lives at risk for just him."

"So how do we get him out of there, I might be able to get a Bounty Hunter friend of mine to take the job but they couldn't do it alone..."  
"Hmm... even if they're able to get him out of there on their own, I don't know what he'll do after that, I know the boys would be more than happy to take him in, but I doubt he'd accept."

"That's what I'm worried about..."  
"But Cody is our friend and my brother so I feel like we should try, I guess we'll just have to figure out the rest afterward."  
"Thank you Echo," you whispered leaning against him as his arms wrapped around you.  
"Don't worry, we'll get him out of there, I promise."

\-- After a while of just enjoying the feeling of each other's embrace, you pull back, moving off of him so he could get up and join you as you walked to the bridge, telling Echo that you guys should all discuss this together and figure out a plan.

\-----------------------

"So, you guys want to rescue Commander Cody from the Empire?" Hunter asks, double-checking that he heard everything correctly, feeling the same overload of information that Echo had.

"Yeah," Echo responds with a worried look, unsure if this was something you guys could pull off.

"Well, he is the reason we're all here today, so I'm in," Hunter replied with a reassuring smile.  
"Me too," Tech said looking up from the datapad he had been typing information into. Wrecker and Crosshair nodded, not feeling the need to repeat words when they knew that their brothers felt the same way as them.

"Then it's settled, the next mission will be getting Commander Cody out of the hands of the Empire!" Hunter says placing his hand on Echo's shoulder as the worry drained from Echo's face, happy to have his brothers supporting this endeavor.

\------------------------

As all of you plan and talk about how this will work, you send a transmission to your friend, hoping they will be able to help, to everyone's surprise, they accept the request for help and send you some detail on where they are and when they'd have time to help. -- "Well, they're in, just finishing up some bounty mission, and then they can join us for this!" You tell the others with excitement, happy that a plan was coming together.

"What are they charging for their service?" Tech asked.  
"Nothing, they said they owed me still for a mission we did some time ago, so they're just doing this to help."  
"We can still give them some compensation like fuel cost or ammunition," Hunter replied not liking the idea of someone doing a job like this for free.

"Sounds good! Oh, Tech once you've finished the details of the plan let me know so I can send it to them," you say handing your datapad over to him.  
"Will do, we should probably go over this one more time before I send it to them." 

Everyone gathers around the holoscreen to review everything.

"Okay, so I'll send Cody a coded message using the same system we used to contact him for the mission, he probably won't agree to our little rescue mission, but all I need is for him to respond so I can hack into the Empires system and give us landing access. -- Once we have that we'll land on the outskirts of the base, you and your friend will go with Hunter and Echo steal some Imperial and Stormtrooper outfits, and hopefully, by then I'll have a scan that show's us Cody's location. -- I'll tell you the information through an earpiece, hopefully, he won't be too far away from where we have to land so you don't have to risk being there longer than needed," Tech says pausing to let Hunter continue.

"Once we know his location it'll be stealth, Y/N you and your friend will pretend to be Imperial officers looking for Cody for a special mission requested by the Chancellor, and then when we get to him we'll just be able to take him with us without a problem."

“That's if they believe us," Echo said worried you all might get caught.  
"Don't worry Echo they're pretty dim," Crosshair joked patting his brother on the back.


End file.
